Formed 108 years ago in the south of London, Crystal Palace’s first club badge didn't appear on their shirts until 1955. Some twenty years previous, they'd had the letters ‘CPFC’ stitched on the left breast, but the Selhurst Lane club changed tack with a new design showing the façade of the old Crystal Palace building, site of the 1851 Great Exhibition. As mid-50’s badges go, this was a very nice example of how to use simple composition and styling to create an easily recognisable ‘brand’.
The new crest remained in place (albeit in modified form latterly) until 1964 when Palace played Real Madrid in a commemorative match to formally celebrate the installation of their new floodlights. The kit became all-white for two seasons and the shirt was adorned with what can only be described as a baffling half-shield in blue and red. Looking like something that had fallen off the tail fin of a French Air Force plane, this surreal attempt at a badge didn't make it past 1966, and possibly with good reason.
The reason for the change in mid-season can be attributed to one man – Malcolm Allison. He arrived as manager at Selhurst Park four months into the 1973/74 season and decided that Palace were in need of reinvention. At a stroke he got rid of the club’s colours (claret and blue for as long as anyone could remember), the club’s nickname (opting for the altogether more inspiring ‘Eagles’) and that minimalist badge.
Though the team’s fortunes fluctuated regularly, the badge remained constant until 1987 when a coming together of old and new created the emblem that has remained in place virtually ever since. Out went the circular motif and in its place came an image of the glass fronted Crystal Palace building that was last used in the 1960’s together with the swooping eagle. The overall arrangement proved popular and had a unique appearance that stood out easily from their rivals.
Strangely enough, a little tweaking was called for in 1994, and not necessarily in a good way either. Firstly, the dynamic swooping eagle was replaced with a standing eagle whose body was facing in the opposite direction. Secondly the ball upon which it was perched was updated from the 1960’s long-patch style to the 1970’s Adidas Telstar. Now surely if you were going to modernise the appearance of a football on your club badge, you’d bring it all the more fully up-to-date, wouldn't you? Apparently not, in this case...Aside from that, there’s also a bit of a question mark over the patchy shading on the eagle itself. For some reason, it looks as though it had been photocopied and then that photocopy has been photocopied and so on to the point where all the detail has been lost.
In our view, the new badge looks excellent, but we'd love to hear your views on it or any of its predecessors. Please leave us a comment or take part in our online poll below. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!
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(Article updated from previous version originally published on Football Fairground).
